(StatePoint) Usher in the new year with a crop of inspiring fresh ideas across home design.

To help you keep up with the latest décor trends, celebrity interior designer, Taniya Nayak, has pulled together the top five home design trends for 2019 to provide inspiration no matter your personal taste.

1. Natural and Organic. Bring a touch of Mother Nature into your home with this trend that accentuates earthy, organic elements. Nayak recommends adding layers of textures, like natural raw jute, and incorporating muted tones, such as terra cotta, moss green or mustard, to achieve this nature-inspired style.

2. Feminine and Free. This style embraces a pastel palette of pale blue, pink and cream to achieve a romantic and glam look. Infuse this trend into your space by creating a striped accent wall with soft-hued tones or alternate different paint finishes, such as eggshell and satin, in the same color for a dimensional effect. Bring the look to life with fresh greenery and indoor plants.

3. Eclectic and Bold. Nayak says “own your own style and show it off…make a statement!” An easy way to achieve this bold trend is to paint a door, an accent piece or even a ceiling in a bright color, like Jester Red or Ceylon Yellow. Unsure if bold colors are for you? Take a look in your closet to see which shades you tend to gravitate toward most.

And when it comes to achieving clean, sharp paint lines, one of Nayak’s go-to tools is a premium painter’s tape like FrogTape brand painter’s tape that delivers the sharpest paint lines possible. Treated with patented PaintBlock Technology, FrogTape is a foolproof way to get professional-looking results and eliminate the need for touch-ups.

4. Fluid and Fashionable. Create a space that exudes effortlessness by infusing repetitive patterns and fluid transitions of the same color. According to Nayak, the best way to incorporate varying shades of a single color is to use a paint sample strip like you might find at a paint supply store as guidance to achieve a serene look throughout the space. Otherwise, stick to a single shade and carefully play with patterns. For example, pair striped dining room chairs with a patterned rug for a fashion-forward statement.

5. Luxe Modern. A little design secret to keep in mind: mixing metals is back and in a big way. Nayak encourages DIYers to complement metallic accents, instead of matching them. She suggests creating a palette of two to four metal tones and distributing them throughout the space in ways that are intentional and maintain balance. For a look that is glam, yet modern, consider pairing rose gold with pewter or brushed gold and stainless steel.

Visit FrogTape.com/Trends for more trend information and ideas.

Ingenious and easy to achieve, these rising trends for 2019 will provide the necessary inspiration to update your home’s interiors.

(StatePoint) Savvy homeowners know that with cool weather, comes a bit of preparation. A quick audit of your heating equipment can mean less wasted energy, a more comfortable home and lower energy bills.

Nearly half of all heating and cooling equipment in U.S. homes never performs to its advertised capacity and efficiency due to incorrect installation, according to U.S. government estimates. And if you have an older system that was built before current efficiency standards, you could be spending more than needed on heating your home.

If it’s time to replace your system, be sure to have it properly installed by an HVACR professional, certified by North American Technician Excellence (NATE), the nation’s largest nonprofit certification body for HVACR technicians. NATE-certified technicians are skilled professionals who have proven their knowledge in the HVACR industry by passing specialized certification tests.

“The NATE-certified techs who perform maintenance and repairs do a consistently great job. We never have any concerns if the job is done right,” says Rob Kirkpatrick, a longstanding customer of Thermal Services, a Nebraska-based contractor.

Beyond having an efficient heating system properly installed, you can prepare for the season in the following ways:

• Clean heating filters. Check them every couple of weeks and change them at least twice in the season, or as directed by the manufacturer.

• Check and maintain insulation. Improperly insulated walls, floors, attics, basements and crawlspaces drain away heat and can also lead to moisture imbalance. Adding weather stripping and caulk around windows and doors can also improve a home’s insulation.

• Turn down the thermostat or install a programmable thermostat to regulate temperature.

• Clean the furnace area. Don’t keep chemicals or cleaning products near a heater, and don’t store anything next to it that could impede ventilation.

• Free all vents and returns of obstructions. Don’t lay carpet over vents, place furniture over or in front of them, or obstruct the flow of air.

• Dry air feels cooler than moist air, so install a humidifier. A simple humidifier may make the home feel five degrees warmer than a home with dry air.

• Look into geothermal heating systems which use earth’s natural heat and are among the most efficient and energy-conserving heating and cooling technologies currently available.

• For optimal performance of your HVAC system, get an annual service contract which includes both heating and cooling maintenance. But take care to avoid poor service and scams. To find a qualified local contractor who employs certified HVACR professionals, look for the NATE logo or go to www.natex.org.

By incorporating a few energy-friendly habits into your routine and by making sure your heating system is operating optimally, this season, you can keep utility bills low while maintaining a cozy, comfortable home.